There are a variety of containers used to hold paint for use with a paint spray gun. In paint cans used with brushes, the top of the paint can is left open during the painting process. But for paint cans used to hold the paint when using a spray nozzle, a lid should be secured to the can containing the paint because there is no need for the paint to be exposed during the spray process. The only opening in a paint can assembly for painting with a spray gun is a paint outlet on a lid, where a spray nozzle, or hose attached to the spray nozzle, attaches to the assembly.
A traditional paint can used during brushing is generally not meant to be reused and refilled with a different color of paint. Each paint can is meant for a single use and contains just a single paint color. However, paint can assemblies used for painting with a spray nozzle are more expensive, and the receptacle holding the paint is meant to be reused for different painting jobs. Therefore, while a traditional simple paint can does not need a liner to protect the inner surfaces of the can from direct contact with the paint, the receptacle used in spray paint assemblies need to be protected from direct contact with the paint so that different colored paints may be filled in the receptacle for different jobs. This protection of the inner surface of the receptacle often comes in the form of a deformable and disposable liner (such as a plastic bag), which is placed in the receptacle to reduce the labor required to clean the receptacle between paint jobs. In this manner, the receptacle can be reused many times. Using an inner liner to hold paint, instead of having paint directly in the receptacle, allows the user to replace the liner between jobs, instead of having to clean the receptacle between each job.
Paint cans with liner bags, and various methods to seal and lock the liner bags to a paint can are known in the art. Examples are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,824 to Joseph et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,432,104 to Kaltenbach, U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,929 to Sapien, U.S. Pat. No. 5,816,501 to Lopresti, and U.S. Pat. No. 8,127,962 to Gerson. However, many of the known liners, and locking mechanisms that seal the liner, are expensive to manufacture, do not effectively seal the contents of the can, or are difficult to use. Therefore, there remains a need for improved low cost liners and associated locking/sealing mechanisms that prevent paint from seeping out from paint can assemblies.